Thursday, January 17, 2008

Ecuador: The Eruption of TungurahuaGlobal Voices Online - Cambridge,MA,USAby Milton Ramirez The Tungurahua Volcano in Ecuador has experienced a jump in activity in recent weeks. Since 1999, this activity has affected residents of ...

Volcanic Ecuador travel alert

Wednesday, 16 Jan 2008 17:10

Travellers to Ecuador are being warned about the increase in volcanic activity in the province of Tungurahua.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) warns of increased activity of the volcano Tungurahua, which gives the region its name, and holidaymakers are told to avoid overnight stays at the nearby resort of Baños.

The FCO update reads: "Since December 2007 there has been increased volcanic activity in Tungurahua, near the resort of Baños.

"There is a high risk of a volcanic eruption and the Ecuadorian authorities have forbidden all access to the volcano.

"You should exercise extreme caution if you intend to travel to the provinces of Tungurahua and Chimborazo."

Around 22,00 British nationals visit Ecuador each year and the FCO states "most visits are trouble-free".

"The main type of incident for which British nationals require consular assistance in Ecuador in 2006, as were victims of crime, commonly theft of passports or bankcards and 'express kidnappings' are on the increase," the FCO stated.

Britons in Ecuador are also advised not to travel to the province of Sucumbios, which borders Colombia, where armed groups are active and there is a risk of kidnapping.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Once an FBI suspect, Hasan Elahi now does the FBI a favor by monitoring himself every minute of the day.

By KEVIN SITES, SUN JAN 13, 8:23 PM PST

What would you do if you were suspected of a crime that could send you to a jail cell in Guantanamo Bay for untold years?

When it happened to Hasan Elahi, he decided to put his life online, for all to see.

Hasan Elahi uses the Web to make his every move public.

The 35-year-old Rutgers University art professor was born in Bangladesh but raised in America. He was flying back home to the U.S. in 2002 when he was stopped at immigration and led to a detention facility in the Detroit Airport.

Elahi was asked about a storage unit he had once rented in Florida. The FBI had gotten a tip that it had been packed with explosives, and that an Arab man had fled from the area the day after the 9/11 attacks.

The tip ended up being false ("Never mind that I'm not an Arab," Elahi notes), but it took him nine lie-detector tests and six months to clear his name. When the FBI finally told him he was no longer a suspect, he requested a letter from them saying exactly that.

But, he says, the FBI refused: Because he was never officially charged, there was also nothing to officially clear. Instead, the agency gave him a phone number and told him to call if he had any more troubles coming in and out of the country.

Shaken by the experience, Elahi started calling the FBI preemptively, telling them of his travel plans, where he would be going and when he would be flying home. But as time went on, Elahi considered how absurd the process was  and upped the ante. He started sending the FBI email and even uploading time-stamped photos of his movements.

He eventually created a website, trackingtransience.net, in which those photos were automatically posted to a map, creating a visual tracking device of where he was at any time.

Elahi saw the act as protection, protest and art, flooding the web with so much information  photographs of every meal, every airport, and even public urinals that he used  that the very density of it all, while public and available for everyone to see, created a new sense of anonymity. He was hiding in plain sight. And while the photographs give away his location, they never include himself  only his point of view.

"You know exactly where I am, but yet, you don't really know where I am," he says, enigmatically. "So it kind of plays with this real beauty of telling you everything and yet telling you nothing."

Years after the detention that prompted his project, Elahi says he will probably continue it indefinitely. He says it has become as natural as breathing for him.

But it doesn't always appeal to those close to him.

"I've had friends who say, "Hey, don't show up at my house." And I have to respect that," Elahi says. "I have to respect their right to privacy. But in general, the people around me, it's become pretty invisible."

Much of the email Elahi gets from the public is supportive, although some worry that he'll give more ideas to "Big Brother."

The point of his project is clear, he says: There is no such thing as privacy in the electronic age.

"I mean, every little thing we're doing is being monitored. Everything that we do is tracked," he says.

Attempts by Yahoo! News to obtain FBI comment were unsuccessful. But with an estimated half a million people on the FBI's terrorist watch list, Elahi says he still has fears about America's post 9/11 posture and hopes his project may highlight the dangers of sacrificing liberty for security.

The body of work he has created has already found a life outside the Web, with 30,000 of his photographs to be featured this month in a video installation at the Sundance Film Festival.

Tools

Rate This Story

Permalink

Do you run a Web site you think we should feature? Do you know of a great story about the Web you think we should follow up on? Let us know.

Comments and Feedback

I fully agree with this statement made by Elahi "I mean, every little thing we're doing is being monitored. Everything that we do is tracked". Technolgy has brought us conveniences but sometimes at the expense of our privacy.

Unfortunately the lib media loves this. They love BIG government, even to enforce immoral (gay agenda) by force. When is the public going to wake up that if they are willing to lose their rights in the guise of good (protecting against terrorism) everyone loses. The terrorists have succeeded in one thing, taking our rights aways little by little. You take them away from one group of citizens, you eventually take them away from everyone!

I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to demonstrate 'the liberal media' favours the idea of the government spying on people. If anything, the media has been irresponsibly quiet about privacy abuses committed at the order of the executive branch post 9/11. More stories like this are needed.

None of your Businees. You obvious forget that all the BS this guy is going through is from the Left wing Bush administration. 9/11 occured on Bush- Cheney watch. Has our national security improved under them? Inmy opinion the answer is no. The majority of our coast is not even defended by the USAF because of plane problems. This guyshould be celebrated as a hero, and receive a written and public apology form the government.

if this gentleman is ever detained again, what makes him think a record of his every minute of every day would stand up to the fbi's fabrication of his movements in court? he's being naive in this day and time.

I see it as an upset citizen taking a legal revenge (what better revenge than to overload them with a surfeit of info) and at the same time protecting himself. Sorry, but privacy aside, hiding in plain site is what we're all going to be doing soon, whether we like it or not. That's the future of our tech world, folks. Whether it can be called art, is another subject.

Acting on tip given to the FBI by a concerned citizen; a investigation was conducted. Elahi was cleared. He was not wrongfully convicted or even charged. HE chose to make a spectacle out of himself and the situation. What if the tip had been accurate? Several of the pilots involved in 9/11 were residents of Florida. The FBI had to take it seriously. THEY did not require Elahi to be monitored. He did it for publicity.

I am outraged and you should be also. President Bush is in Saudi Arabia. He has just agreed to sell the Saudis $20 billion worth of military equipment. This is the same country that refused to recognize Israel's right to exist, the same country that will not allow one Jew to set foot on its soil.

I was completely outraged when I heard that Ehud Olmert, whom I have known for 26 years, stood next to President Bush and declared that he would work to fulfill the final status solution to the Road Map to Peace. In essence, this means the division of Jerusalem (with all Christian Holy Sites being under Islamic rule of law) and Judea and Samaria turned over to the Palestinians.

This is outrageous. These are terrorist organizations.

As this absurd ceremony was going on, they were singing; they had music playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The only rainbow that I believe in is the rainbow at the time of Noah. God made the covenant that He would never again destroy the world with a flood.

God's word says I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee. America must not touch prophecy. The nation of Israel was born by a royal land grant given by God Almighty. It was birthed before there was a United States or a United Nations. All nations were only pagan nations at that time.

Presently we have 119,000 who have signed the Save Jerusalem Petition.

Do you realize that the U.S. Government is shuttling around with almost a dozen Arab states that refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist and, in fact, fund terrorists to kill Jews? It's outrageous!

Please, get one friend today to sign the Save Jerusalem Petition. This will double the number. Our ultimate goal is one million, but our goal right now is to reach 200,000.

Pray today that the Lord will help us with this and that every Jerusalem Prayer Member will get one friend to respond in the next 24 hours.

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the State Department is going to push this through if we remain silent. If it happens, God's hand of protection will be lifted from our country in a way that we couldn't possibly have imagined. I will not allow that to happen. I will do everything in my power to resist that.

Dr. Tim LaHaye, Mrs. Anne Graham Lotz, Mr. Pat Boone, Mr. Bill McCartney, Ms. Kay Arthur, Rev. Tommy Tenney, Dr. A.R. Bernard, and Dr. Jay Sekulow are just a few of the more than 300 Christian Leaders who are part of the Jerusalem Prayer Team.

The Jerusalem Prayer Team is a non-profit organization with 501c3 tax exempt status. The Jerusalem Prayer Team is a prayer movement of people around the world. It is a non-denominational organization. It receives no support from the Nation of Israel. Donations are tax deductible.

The mission of the Jerusalem Prayer Team: To guard, defend and protect the Jewish people and Eretz Yisrael until Israel is secure, and until the Redeemer comes to Zion.

How do I discontinue my membership/subscription to this e-mail list? Do not respond to this e-mail for any reason. To discontinue your membership automatically please, follow the link below. You joined this list as Roy Rohe at the following e-mail address: drrohe@yahoo.com. You must use the correct e-mail address to discontinue your membership.

If you experience any technical problems and/or do not receive confirmation that your request has been completed online, please postal mail, phone or fax your request using the contact information listed above. Your request will be processed within 10 days of the receipt of your request.

Passing asteroid 2008 AF3

The 27-metre diameter asteroid 2008 AF3 will tonight pass by the Earth as close as the Moon!(see its orbit here)

In fact, it is passing so close that you can see it for yourself (from a dark site, with a large telescope). At magnitude 14, you will need a 12" diameter telescope to spot it as it passes through Ursa Major (the Plough) this evening (you can plot its position from your locations using Tom's Asteroid Flybys Webpage).

But the worry is that it was only discovered 3 days ago, highlighting the difficulty of finding asteroids that are coming straight for us!

If an asteroid is larger than 100m, and is expected to pass the Earth within 20 times the Earth-Moon separation, then it is considered a potentially hazardous asteroid. Fortunately, none are expected to hit the Earth at the moment, but new ones are being discovered on a regular basis.

A thin spot in the Earth's crust is enabling underground magma to melt Greenland's ice, scientists at the Ohio State University feel.

According to them, the "hotspot" is located in the northeast corner of Greenland -- just below a site where an ice stream was recently discovered.

The researchers don't yet know how warm the hotspot is, but if it is warm enough to melt the ice above it even a little, it could enable the ice to slide more rapidly out to sea.

To measure actual temperatures beneath the ice, scientists will have to drill boreholes down to the base of the ice sheet-- a mile or more below the ice surface. The effort and expense make such measurements few and far between, especially in remote areas of northeast Greenland.

"The behaviour of the great ice sheets is an important barometer of global climate change," said Ralph von Frese, leader of the project and a professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University.

"However, to effectively separate and quantify human impacts on climate change, we must understand the natural impacts, too," he added.

Von Frese's team combined gravity measurements of the area taken by a Naval Research Laboratory aircraft with airborne radar measurements taken by research partners at the University of Kansas.

The combined map revealed changes in mass beneath the Earth's crust, and the topography of the crust where it meets the ice sheet.

According to the researchers, below the earth's crust is the mantle, the partially molten rocky layer that surrounds its core.

The mantle is so hot that temperatures just a few miles deep in the crust reach hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit, von Frese explained.

"It could be that there's a volcano down there. But we think it's probably just the way the heat is being distributed by the rock topography at the base of the ice," he said.

The ice thickness, the temperature at the base of the ice, and ground topography all contribute to the forming of an ice stream -- a river of ice that flows within a larger ice sheet.

In recent years, Greenland ice streams have been carrying ice out to sea faster, and ice cover on the island has been diminishing.

Once the ice reaches the sea, it melts, and global sea levels rise.

"Where the crust is thicker, things are cooler, and where it's thinner, things are warmer. And under a big place like Greenland or Antarctica, natural variations in the crust will make some parts of the ice sheet warmer than others," von Frese added.

The ice sheet in northeast Greenland is especially worrisome to scientists. It had no known ice streams until 1991, when satellites spied one for the first time.

Dubbed the Northeastern Greenland Ice Stream, it carries ice nearly 400 miles, from the deepest interior of the island out to the Greenland Sea.

The newly discovered hotspot is just below the ice stream, and could have caused it to form, the researchers concluded. But what caused the hotspot to form?

"It could be that there's a volcano down there. But we think it's probably just the way the heat is being distributed by the rock topography at the base of the ice," said von Frese.

Collaborator Kees van der Veen, a visiting associate professor of geological sciences and research scientist at Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State, said: "Our map is the first attempt at quantifying spatial variations in geo-heat under Greenland -- and it explains why the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream is where it is."

For now, the researchers are combining theories of how heat flows through the mantle and crust with the gravity and radar data, to understand how the hotspot is influencing the ice.

Once they finish searching the rest of Greenland for other hotspots, they hope to turn their attention to Antarctica.

Timothy Leftwich, von Frese's former student and now a post-doctoral engineer at the Centre for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets at the University of Kansas, presented the study's early results on Thursday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

Snow falls on Baghdad for first time in memory

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Snow fell on Baghdad on Friday for the first time in memory, and delighted residents declared it an omen of peace.

"It is the first time we've seen snow in Baghdad," said 60-year-old Hassan Zahar. "We've seen sleet before, but never snow. I looked at the faces of all the people, they were astonished," he said.

"A few minutes ago, I was covered with snowflakes. In my hair, on my shoulders. I invite all the people to enjoy peace, because the snow means peace," he said.

Traffic policeman Murtadha Fadhil, huddling under a balcony to keep dry, declared the snow "a new sign of the new Iraq."

"It's a sign of hope. We hope Iraqis will purify their hearts and politicians will work for the prosperity of all Iraqis."

The streets of the capital were largely empty as big, thick, wet flakes fell on Friday morning, a weekend day in Iraq. The temperature hovered around freezing and the snow mostly melted into grey puddles when it hit the ground.

But it was still lovely, said Mohanned Rahim, a baker: "This snow will bring pleasure to the people of Iraq. It's beautiful!"

As Bush was leaving Israel today, an interesting article was posted by CNN regarding a possible asteroid strike on Mars on January 30. Asteroid 2007 WD5 is expected to come within 2,480 to 16,000 miles of Mars, well close enough to be affected by the gravitational pull of the planet. I find the timing of this event in conjuction with Bush's trip to Israel very interesting, possibly a further warning to stop meddling with the pre-ordained borders of Israel. Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are a part of Israel's eternal inheritance, and it is not a good idea to interfere with God's covenant to the children of Abraham. Asteroid 2007 WD5 is not the only undiscovered asteroid in our solar system. These heavenly bodies have a habit of appearing out of nowhere, such as Comet Shoemaker-Levy which violently slammed into Jupiter in July, 1994.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

We all may have been too busy to notice this when first written. deexxoo

_________________________________________________________________

Kings Are Refined In Times Of Trouble

December 17, 2007

The fabric of this world is about to be shaken, as kings are awakened from their slumber and robe themselves with heavenly garments of eternal destiny. Do not fear the shaking that is coming upon the world. The unexpected fires which are about to burst forth will not touch a hair on our head, but only free you from your chains. You have been held like a prisoner within a world that is not your own, but remember that you are only a pilgrim passing through this small speck of dust as an ambassador on assignment from Heaven. The kings of this world are about to be judged, and many leaders will soon fall. After the fires have settled, only true kings will remain. The church age began with the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher (Ephesians 4:11), but will end with the final two ministry offices of the king and priest appearing on the scene (Revelation 1:6). The hour of the seven-fold ministry has now arrived, for the kingdoms of this world are about to become the kingdoms of our God and King, and the world stage is now set for the final battle between darkness and light.

Kings are refined in times of trouble. Do not run away from the fires, run to them! Into nations of great opposition I am sending you. Into trials and persecution you shall be launched. As an emisary of truth and stability, you will suddently find yourself standing in hurricane-force opposition, but do not fear, for you shall prevail and tear down the ancient gates of the enemy. You must be willing to GO at a moments notice, for I tell you in truth, many of those nations would cease to exist and be burried underneath the sea without your timely presence and the anointing you bring into the region.

America and the Dividing of Israel

Much prayer from across the nation rose into heaven during the November peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. On the opening day of the conference, a 6.6 quake shook the Solomon Islands on Nov. 27 (Solomon representing the Temple Mount, which Israel is being pressured to concede, along with portions of East Jerusalem.) On the final day of the peace conference, a rare 7.4 quake shook the Caribbean on Nov. 29, which faced both the US Gulf Coast and East Coast. If this quake had generated a tsunami, two-thirds of US coastlines would have been affected.

America was extremely fortunate in November, in that we only received a warning on November 29. This was largely due to the fact that nothing significant was accomplished in Annapolis, and no agreements were made involving the concession of land. However, President Bush is reportedly traveling to Israel on January 11 to push his plan for the creation of a Palestinian state. This is not good news for America. The current financial crisis we are experiencing is nothing compared to what is coming if God is forced to remove his hand of divine protection from the borders of America.

Financial Kingdoms in Crisis

While the U.S. Dollar has plummeted in 2007, the Philippine Peso has risen astronomically. The exchange rate is now 40-Pesos Per US-Dollar, in comparison to 57-Pesos per US-Dollar barely a year ago. What does this mean for Americans living in the Philippines? It means that $1,000 is now worth only $660, and dropping regularily. Beach clubs and tourist resorts are now becoming empty, while Americans are leaving the country by the droves as the US Dollar continues to plummet. Some experts believe that the US-Philippine exchange rate will drop as low as 30-Pesos per US-Dollar in 2008.

How does this affect US missionaries living in the Philippines? Many are going through very difficult times right now. Should US ministers living in the region pack their bags and leave? When the Lord told Jonah to go to Ninevah, perhaps one reason he went in the opposite direction was that Ninevah's exchange rates were horrific at the time. But we cannot base obedience to the Holy Spirit upon exchange rates.

I believe that currency markets will continue to be erratic and unpredictable as we enter into 2008, and that investors should use extreme wisdom, caution and discernment in all financial matters. However, there is one investment that never fails: The Kingdom of God. Do not stop supporting world missions if currency rates are not favorable. Many overseas ministries are suffering tremendously right now and need assistance while waiting for the US Dollar to bounce back ... and it WILL bounce back, if we can boldly deal with the root of the problem, and begin the New Year with a mindset of reformation, humility and prayer for divine intervention. Only God can bail us out of our current financial mess!

Do not react to the current financial crisis with your natural understanding, but with the mindset of a ruler, for you have more than enough to meet all your needs in 2008. Your supply-line is not of this world, but comes directly from Heaven.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Roy called me outside to see this just now! Flying from south to north, from Cutler Bay toward Miami, - no noise! .. a huge but invisiblewedge shaped conformation edged sparkling lights flew over, blinking off and on....as many as 10 lights would be on at the same time.. It was impossible to tell how high up, or how fast.. although we watched it for about three minutes! Roy at first thought it was twinkling stars, but then realized the whole formation was moving!!! Yes, they did look like stars, but kept the wedge shape solidly as they moved. Regular unmoving stars were up there in the sky, way above this thing, and this thing did not block out the regular stars. After it went out of sight in the north, I came right in and immediately wrote this email!

Roy has seen several UFO's before, but this is the first one that I've seen. My daughter saw similar lights over a field years ago.

Even though the weather close to the earth's surface was clear and calm in Gordon County, Ga., on Friday, winds at 2,000 feet were 15-30 miles per hour. So, the 17 whooping crane chicks that are making their first-ever migration from Wisconsin to Florida following small ultralight aircraft were grounded for the day.

Friday marks the 73rd day into the 1,250-mile trip. So far, the juvenile whooping cranes have traveled 811.1 miles.

Operation Migration pilots left Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin on Oct. 13 with the chicks following the ultralight aircraft.

This is the seventh year Operation Migration pilots have led whooping crane chicks on their first migration in hopes of teaching the whoopers how to migrate in order to establish a viable eastern migratory flock of the endangered birds.

During this migration, the birds were grounded in Cumberland County, Tenn., for 23 days because of weather conditions and then it was decided to allow staff members to take a quick break for the holidays. The staff returned to Cumberland County and the birds on Dec. 29 to resume the migration. The birds took flight the following day and made it over the Cumberland Ridge, the most difficult stretch of the migration.

But on Friday, winds, once again, delayed the contingent's take-off. Weather conditions will determine when the birds will get to Florida, the last leg of the migration.

Near the end of the migration, the birds fly over the Dunnellon Airport for a public viewing on their way to the Halpata Tastanaki Preserve before the chicks are led to their final destination at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Crystal River.

Operation Migration was founded in 1994 as a non- profit charitable organization by Bill Lishman and Joe Duff. That was five years after Bill became the first human to fly with birds, and one year after the two artists, turned biologists, used ultralight aircraft to lead a small flock of Canada geese from Ontario, Canada to Virginia, USA. The unassisted return migration of these geese the following spring garnered world-wide attention that led to the making of the hit movie Fly Away Home with Columbia Pictures.

To perfect techniques, and ensure that once released, birds conditioned to follow their ultralights would remain wild, several migration studies were conducted with non-endangered Sandhill cranes in subsequent years. The results of these studies were evaluated by the Canada / United States Whooping Crane Recovery Team. Like many birds, Whooping cranes learn their migration route by following their parents. But this knowledge is lost when the species is reduced and there are no longer any wild birds using the flyway. Until Operation Migration was asked by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to spearhead a reintroduction of the world's most endangered cranes, there was no method of teaching migration to captive reared Whooping cranes released into the wild.

In the first five years of the program, approximately 60 birds have been taught a migration route between Wisconsin and Florida. This is 4 times the number that existed in the early 1940's. Operation Migration Inc works in partnership with nine private and government agencies known collectively as the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership.

Photo Tools

"The worst part of the cold comes in the evening, and they literally just shut off," said Ron Magill, communications director for Miami Metrozoo. "Their bodies shut off and they lose their grip on the tree, and they start falling."

Temperatures hit the high 20s and low 30s this week in Florida during an unusual cold snap. While many of the iguanas will wake up, they could face death if low temperatures persist. Iguanas can sustain cold for between four and 10 hours before they have to wake up, Magill said.

"The populations have expanded so drastically (that) when we do experience a really good cold snap, it will kill off a lot of them," said Kenneth Krysko, a herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. "It is a good thing. They're not native, and they're considered a nuisance."

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Tue Jan 1, 2008 4:15 pm (PST)

Okay one of them deja vu little things, or one can say HEAVENLY CONNECTION..

Some of you know how i like music, with the fave band being HEART, with ann and nancy wilson..okay I have heard something to the effect they were doing something affiliated with THE NEVERENDING STORY show, but that was all i knew...now time went on no thoughts of anything on this issue and i was dreaming on the morning of dec. 23rd. and i had this beautiful song play in my head..i remember certain words, DON'T YOU KNOW, and the words HEAVEN AND EARTH i also heard in my head..OKAY, i posted a poll that day on the heart fanclub bbs concerning what song do the fans want to hear for next years tour which is called HUMAN 08 TOUR..then in my post i mentioned about the dream i had with the song except i didn't post the DON'T YOU KNOW words but i do remember those words...anyway, i got an email today with a new song by Ann and Nancy and their songwriting partner, it is called DON'T YOU FALL, it is for the neverending story show..but part of this music is what was in my dream that morning of dec. 23rd. i mean so similar, HAUNTINGLY SIMILAR...beautiful song this is...but i just sat here a minute ago and it hit me..i sat here and i had this enormous thought..GOD IS HERE...it isn't like everybody thinks God is, GOD IS HERE...anyway, listen to this tune when watching the pictures from the neverending show that the seattle mens chorus did..

AND MY THOUGHTS A LITTLE BIT AGO...well, it is how things occur in a person's dreams, the little esp thingys, the gift of sight etc...all them things...the spirit of God is reaching out to us all in these COINCIDENCES..hmmm...more so than we all know..

listen and listen and JUST DOWN RIGHT PAY ATTENTION TO THEM DREAMS PEOPLE...

Free Trump T-shirt

Cluster Map

Please Donate!

Global Rumblings depends heavily
upon the the support that you provide
by clicking on and purchasing products
that are advertised here. Without your
support, this site could not sustain
itself because it takes time and money
to stay on the internet. Thank You!